Harbor Freight

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
Last Saturday, Renee needed to go to Raleigh, so I tagged along, dropper her off, and hit a few places while she did her thing.

Went to Lowes, HD, and Harbor Freight. Mainly to get some conduit and stuff, but wanted to look at tool storage as I am thinking about re-arranging my junk. I got one HF 44' chest and it's done me good.

I have not been in an HF for over year to look around. Been maybe twice in that time to run in and grab something specific. I've gotten some decent stuff there over the years, but generally limit it to stuff with no more than 1 moving part, and nothing electric. It looks like they have really upped their game with many of their tools and stuff.

Anyway...their US General tool chests are a few notches above what HD and Lowes had (husky, crapsman, etc). Smooth drawers, better layouts, etc. And dang, their ICON chests are nice. Unaffordable, but nice.

Then I saw their ICON tools (wrenches, ratchets, sockets) and they look darn nice, too. Seem to me they are again, besting what Husky and Craftsman now have.

Have y'all checked out the HF ICON tools? Anybody tried them?
 
My buddy has several newer lime green snap on boxes and just bought several lime green icons. They are identical in almost every way except almost 1/4 the price, I would bet $5 they come from the same place. I really like the way hf has started doing the "good, better, best" for everything... Their mid range hand tools are in line with craftsman or husky, the icons are pretty comparable to tool truck brands.
 
Every time I go into the HF on Capt. blvd I leave swearing I will NEVER go back....I have kept that promise to myself for over a year now.

The tools are what they are....take that as you will. The people that work there, and the majority of the people that shop there don't give a damn, people yelling on their phones, 1 cashier working when 20 people are standing in line....while 5 other people mill about. It seemed like asking if they "had any in the back" was like asking a worker for a kidney (I might add, 90% of the time, if I ask this question, it is because the website said it was in stock at said location).

Nope....NOPE.....Northern Tool for me! Their store brand is getting pretty good, they carry homark boxes and I keep saying when I save up enough pennies and dimes.....I am gonna get me one!
 
I got the icon extended length flex head 1/2 ratchet. Its pretty nice but after a couple uses the "flex" has become a "floppy" head but I go for it over a breaker bar.
 
shelby27604 said:
Nope....NOPE.....Northern Tool for me! Their store brand is getting pretty good, they carry homark boxes and I keep saying when I save up enough pennies and dimes.....I am gonna get me one!
Click to expand...

I have sworn off Northern tool for a while now over a shitty deal they did to me.
I bought a half inch Titan long handle ratchet with a lifetime warranty.
It lasted well until my son used it to unstick a bolt, no cheater pipe it has a large oversized rubber handle that cheater pipe wont fit over...and he stripped the guts out.

Went in to swap it and grabbed a new identical one. Only now its "Klutch"...same exact piece, same colors, same part number...sorry sir we cant warranty Titan tools we no longer carry them. But this nice Klutch has a lifetime warranty...
Big ole NOPE
 
kaiser715 said:
I got one HF 44' chest and it's done me good.
Click to expand...

Nothing useful to add; I'm just impressed anyone has filled up a 44 foot long toolbox!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
HF for me is still pretty hit or miss...but I rarely ever go in there for any thing 'nice', and if I want something 'nice', I'm usually not going to HF. That said, the handful of times I do go to the local one, it's always super empty...customers and inventory. So then I usually end up at lowe's getting Kobalt brand if I need it right then, or end up ordering exactly what I want online. I honestly think the only HF item I actively have is an engine hoist that I had to have at that moment, and haven't touched it since.
 
Ron said:
I have sworn off Northern tool for a while now over a shitty deal they did to me.
Sorry sir we cant warranty Titan tools we no longer carry them. But this nice Klutch has a lifetime warranty...
Big ole NOPE
Click to expand...

That sucks! I have shunned stores and people for less!
I have a dry cut metal saw with the clutch brand on it, that they now only sell under the irontron label (again, same exact saw).

I see stores pulling that game all the time, I left Lowe's yesterday and they have all the Kobalt cordless tools on clearance, and I wondered to myself if they were going to obsolete the battery pack for all the older Kobalt tools, or if they are switching over to only craftsmen.
 
I'm in the market for a LARGE box and several tools (needed to fill gaps in my hodge-podge collection... mostly Crapsman, with sprinklings of SnapOn/MAC/Cornwell/S-K/Wright).
While I'd LOVE to have a huge SO/MAC stack, it's hard to justify the additional funding for *storing* my junk vs. "professional wrenching" and have pretty much decided they'll be US General (72" base + 56" top) and Icon (various wratchets/wrenches)...
 
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